09/24/18, Monday

Welcome Diamond D ! I have a special place in my heart for special educators ! Thanks for leaping out of the shadows and turning your face to the sun, with the rest of us !! Bonnie 150, so sorry to hear about Noodle ! It is so difficult to lose a beloved fur baby ! Paula? the JV football team !? I agree with Diane, you?d practically need a cattle trough to make and serve that much food !!! You are mighty indeed !! BB? any news on the job front ? Dave? positive thoughts and prayers for your surgery !!

I wrote out a detailed version of our RV saga and emailed it to the president of the Forest River Owners? Group for advice. He is also a public relations liaison for Forest River, so I?m anticipating he can help me shake some branches. I believe I mentioned that we were supposed to be Rving in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon this week ( it is a REAL thing) and even though we had to cancel the RV reservations, we?re still going Tues. ? Friday to do some hiking and sightseeing. Because of all of the warm weather we have had, the leaves haven?t started to turn yet, but it will still be awesome. Settled back in the lower end of my range. We found a local grape balsamic that is perfect in salad. I?ve been on a beet and goat cheese tear and we combine those three ingredients into a variety of daily salads.

Had to cut and move my PA Grand Canyon picture, as it kept superimposing on text !

Hmmm... Beef and goat cheese sounds good! I had a hankering for fish tacos so made them for the second time last night and they came out better than my last version. I eat them without the tortilla but with lime/cilantro slaw and mango salsa.

I hope the owners group president can help with your RV saga. It shouldn't be needed, but maybe the dealer needs more incentive to make you happy.

Weight still ? because I forgot to weigh before coffee and other liquids. Definitely need to get back into it (I haven't weighed since I left for vacation on 9/1, so 23 days ago). Calories 810, protein 113, carbs 47, fat 17.

Today is busy: "Savvy Caretaker" class this morning, "Memory Cafe" after lunch, and I am going to a mentoring orientation tonight for my WLS Center. The leader for our support group reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested. So I have to drive 90 minutes each way to the hospital for the class but I'm looking forward to it. DS is helping out with DH while I go to the mentoring orientation.

Have a marvelous Monday!

139.0

David, I'll be thinking- praying for you today as you have your surgery. Let the right hands be in the right place doing just what needs to be done to resolve these pain issues. You do your part with it, that is to say, heal well.

Good morning,

Positive thoughts to Dave! DianeO, positive thoughts for Seeking Serenity, too.

I weighed and am up 3.9 lbs since 2 days ago. I had been lightheaded (usually a sign that bp is low) and craving salt. So. Salt happened, I guess! No longer lightheaded, tho.

DD was on a high note just 24 hours ago.....just nominated for athlete of the week as well as homecoming court and she seemed to be enjoying having a beau.

(Side note: if she makes it to the next round of homecoming court, she is going to withdraw because it is "just a popularity contest." Well of course it is. Still, her fat mom was never nominated for it so I am having mixed feelings about withdrawing. I am proud of her for questioning the system.)

Then, an issue with another boy resurfaced--safe to say he will never be a Supreme Court nominee. She and her beau called it quits because she needs to work out the other issue. (Counseling must move to the top of priorities.) She broke out in hives from stress and my old worries about self harm returned.

So, I pushed lavender oil on her. "Aromatherapy, or rub it on your feet". That will help, right? I feel so helpless, unable to protect her.

Well, I better get to work so that I can be home on time tonight.

I think I'll put a little lavender on this morning, too.

Shel

It is so difficult when we can't fix things for our kids. I still feel that way. Every day.

Greetings Maintenance Buddies

Still at 151. Yesterday was pretty active for me as I walked the dog, did errands and unloaded kilns which ends up being a lot of steps. But I forgot my fitbit (just typed fitbutt) so no one will ever know.

DianeO the PA grand canyon looks great. Sorry the RV dealer is letting you down. Keep at it with the Lemon Law diary. Is there a consumer protection agency that could help?

Goat cheese is awesome. There is an award winning goat cheese maker here - Cypress Grove. They have some that are hard cheeses that are to die for. $20 a pound!!

DiamondD, looks like you were able to post yesterday. I am the moderator of this group but have never had to do anything to approve new members. Hope OH hasn't changed anything. Guess I should check.

Oh Shel, the perils of being a teenager these days! What a roller coaster ride. Yep, counseling might be in order. Ditto the lavender oil. Too old for a teddy bear and too young for a glass of chardonnay.

Thinking of Dave today and sending good thoughts.

Its another beautiful fall day here and old dog Chip seems to like me walking him so I will indulge him. Gallery banking and studio visits round out the day. DH has another eye doctor appointment in a couple of days to see if his eyes are still changing. He thinks he is headed for replacement of the cataract surgery lenses but doctors haven't said that yet.

Liz glad you are doing the support groups for DH and good on you to be a wls mentor. Don't forget the self care though. That goes for all of you, my peeps!

Diane S

Merry Monday Madness everyone!

Even though I have been reading and commenting, I haven't posted a post in a few days. Just haven't felt the pull to do so, I guess.

My first comment is about the ladders lying across the glacial ravine. I took a look at that pic and thought, well that's not nearly as bad as the first picture you showed us. Look, it even has a little rope railing to hold on to. That made all the difference for me. Odd, no?

So, today is day 1, step one of sugar detox. Sugar detox does not work well as a cold turkey thing for me, so I use a step down approach. Today attacks two time slots of that are highly problematic for me. The first is the time between lunch and the end of the kids' lunch recess. That is my first chocolate trigger of the day. The second is when the dismissal bell rings. Like one of Pavlov's dogs, I hear that ending bell, and my mouth begins to salivate and I go find the chocolate. I swear I ate 10 mini Reese's cups on Friday! So, all I have to do to be successful (and believe me, it will be a feat!) is to not eat sugar at those two trigger times. Tomorrow I will add step 2, which will impose a 2 hour window during which sugar is allowed. After that the thinking becomes, "If you can go 22-23 hours without sugar, you can certainly go a full 24 hours. If you can go a full day without sugar, you really don't need sugar at all." I will sit there until October 2. On the 2nd Lucky and I fly out for the nationals. I have already decided that I will not restrict myself from all sugar during the trip, but a good preparatory lessening of sugar intake will be a great help and start to the trip.

The "keeper" puppy has been named. Her name is Liza. I seem to recall that Diane S had a Border Terrier grand dame named Liza. Hope you don't mind the name theft.

Yep, we had dear old Liza for 16+ years. Her registered name was Tyneside Get A Life. We named her that when we were planning on quitting our jobs and moving out here. Tee Hee.

David, I hope all went well today - Praying for success!